This invention relates to a recording and playback apparatus and method, a program storage medium and a program, and more particularly to a recording and playback apparatus and method, a program storage medium and a program suitable for use to record and play back video and audio signals of a received television broadcasting signal onto and from a randomly accessibly recording medium.
An apparatus is conventionally available which can receive a television broadcasting signal, encode video and audio signals (hereinafter referred to as AV signals) of the television broadcasting signal using the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) 2 system or the like and record the encoded AV signals onto a randomly accessible recording medium such as a hard disk and can play back the AV signals from the recording medium. An apparatus of the type described is hereinafter referred to as hard disk video recorder.
Also a personal computer is available which has functions similar to those of a hard disk video recorder.
Since conventional hard disk video recorders and personal computers having similar functions use a randomly accessible recording medium, it is possible for them to effect slip playback, that is, to record AV signals of a certain program and simultaneously play back the AV signals of the program being recorded or AV signals of another program recorded already on the recording medium. It is to be noted that such a slip playback technique as just described has been proposed by the Assignee of the present application and is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 11-39850.
Also it is possible for conventional hard disk video recorders and personal computers having similar functions to copy AV signals encoded so as to have a predetermined format such as the format of the MPEG2 system and recorded on a recording medium, convert the format of such AV signals into another format such as, for example, the format of the MPEG1 system or transfer such AV signals to another apparatus. However, they have a subject to be solved in that they cannot copy AV signals of a program being recorded, convert the format of the AV signals into another format or transfer the AV signals to another apparatus.